Theatre: I See Red (★★★½)

WAAPA  3rd Year Performance Making Students
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
May 19, 20, 2016

There wasn’t a string to be seen on stage, but in the hands of fourteen graduating year students from WAAPA’s Performance Making course, guided by Spare Parts artistic director Phillip Mitchell, there was no doubt what you were watching.
It’s testament to the reach and variety of modern puppetry that WAAPA, always conscious of the career prospects of its students, has introduced puppetry into its syllabus; after all, if you want work in The Lion King or Warhorse…
The nine short, devised pieces all reference Little Red Riding Hood (although the show is all grown up in tone and content), and it’s an inspired piece of curation.
The passing of Spare Parts’ beloved master puppeteer and State Living Treasure Noriko Nishimoto this week has saddened the whole WA arts community, but nothing could blunt the excitement of the student performers and their supporters in the foyer after the show. 

That’s exactly how Nishimoto, a committed educator throughout her long career, would have wanted it. Because, to quote Dylan Thomas: “Though lovers be lost love shall not”. 

Read the complete review in The West Australian 

Theatre: Moominpappa at Sea

by Tove Jansson
Adapted and directed by Michael Barlow
Creative consultant Noriko Nishimoto
Designed by Leon Hendroff
Composer Lee Buddle
Performed by Michael Barlow and Bruno Michel
Awesome Festival
Until October 13
(Recommended for 5+ year-olds)

To celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Finnish writer Tove Jansson, Spare Parts Puppet Theatre has adapted her Moominpappa at Sea for the Awesome Festival.
Jansson’s odd, whimsical tales of the Moomin family – Moominpappa, his wife Moominmamma and their son Moomintroll – occupy an imaginative territory also inhabited by the Babar herd and the Wild Things, with a little Nordic peculiarity thrown into the mix.
The Moomins are pale, round, irresistible critters with hippo-like snouts, recreated here with impressive accuracy as 50cm puppets. As manipulated by Michael Barlow (who also adapted and directs the story) they are intrepid, resourceful, optimistic – and a little bit formal.

Theatre: The Hardest Way to Make an Omelette

Written and performed by Jessica Harlond-Kenny

Directed by Leah Mercer
Sound and Lighting designed by Joe Lui
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle
Until Nov 9

You have to like what performance artist Jessica Harlond-Kenny attempts in The Hardest Way to Make an Omelette, which is appearing in tandem with Shirley Van Sanden’s excellent The Warrior and the Princess at Spare Parts as part of the Fremantle Festival.
The attempt, though, is more impressive than the show.

Theatre: Tales From Outer Suburbia

by Shaun Tan
Adapted by Michael Barlow
Directed by Philip Mitchell
Designed by Sohan Ariel Hayes
Composer Lee Buddle
Performed by Humphrey Bower, Bec Bradley, Imanuel Dado and Chloe Flockhart
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle
Sept 28 – Oct 12, 2013

We've been fortunate in WA to have artists with a particular feel for our suburbs, though perhaps it's hardly surprising. Perth dominates the entire State and its own constantly renewing newness dominates the city itself.
Our best writers have often been products of places that were, at the time, on the growing city's frontiers. Tom Hungerford's South Perth and Dave Warner's Bicton, Tim Winton's Karrinyup and Shaun Tan's Hillarys were all, once, outer suburbs. No doubt their creative successors are growing up now in Ellenbrook and Success.
The Spare Parts team, led by its artistic director Philip Mitchell and adapter Michael Barlow, are more than capable of doing the necessary tweaking to make Tales From Outer Suburbia a favourite in their repertoire.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian

Theatre: Blueback

Terrapin Puppet Theatre

Adapted by Peta Murray

from the novel by Tim Winton

Directed by Philip Mitchell

Performed by Sarah Nelson and Michael Barlow

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle

Oct 1 – 15, 2011

Tim Winton’s Blueback is the story of three generations of the Jackson family, their home on the mythical Longboat Bay, its waters, reefs and the giant groper Abel Jackson befriends as a child.

Our unofficial state laureate is in very familiar waters here, and his short novel is given a sweet, emotional adaptation and supple, inventive staging by playwright Peta Murray and the Terrapin Puppet Theatre at Spare Parts in Fremantle.

I couldn’t imagine a better school holiday treat than a visit to the Maritime Museum, fish and chips down at the fishing boat harbour and a performance of this charming and insightful production.

Link here to the complete review in The West Australian